


Bowser's Castle

by DeckofDragons



Series: Possession [2]
Category: Luigi's Mansion (Video Games), Mario & Luigi RPG (Video Games), Super Mario Bros. (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Path, Blood and Injury, Booigi, Bowser is a good dad and no one can convince me otherwise, Breaks off from Possessed at the end of part 1, Chains, Gen, He's in good hands now though sort of, M/M, Mentions of Cackletta and Bowletta, Poor Luigi still, Possession, Vague Bowuigi beginnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:40:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26354344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: After being possessed by Cackletta, Bowser finds the whole idea of possession to be repulsive. So when King Boo, piloting Luigi's body shows up to brag, he's very displeased.
Relationships: Bowser Koopa/Luigi (Nintendo), King Boo & Luigi, Koopa | Bowser & Koopa Jr | Bowser Jr, Koopa | Bowser/Luigi
Series: Possession [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915030
Comments: 19
Kudos: 142





	1. Anger

**Author's Note:**

> First off, as stated in the tags, this fic is an alternate path for Possessed, breaking off from it at the end of part one.
> 
> Second, the reason it exists: Bowuigi is my OTP for this fandom. So while playing Superstar Saga for the first time, when I reached the part where Cackletta possesses Bowser, which happened around the time I started working on part 2 of Possessed, I naturally made the connection that Bowletta and Booigi are very similar in nature. My next thought was that after that experience perhaps Bowser would be disgusted by the idea of possession and thus wish to do something about King Boo possessing Luigi which was the sole thought that ultimately led to this fic. And I know It's implied at the end that Bowser doesn't remember anything that happened to him while Cackletta was controlling and that he doesn't even know that that's what happened but that's less fun so we're just going to ignore that for the sake of the fic.

Luigi’s car was still where King Boo had parked it, making it easy to circle round to it and find. _Where to now?_ Luigi asked with a mental sigh as King Boo hopped in.

‘ _Uh…_ ’ King Boo paused, holding Luigi’s hand on the ignition. ‘ _I don’t actually know. I didn’t think this idea would work so I didn’t plan for anything beyond this point. … You don’t have any more friends, do you?_ ’

 _No._ Unlike Mario he’d never been good at making friends. And the few friends he’d met in adventures, he’d never had the courage to try to keep in contact with them.

King Boo laughed. ‘ _You’re so pathetic, it’s funny._ ’

Luigi already _knew_ he was pathetic; he knew it better than anyone. There was nothing _funny_ about it though; he hated it even while lacking the willpower to change it.

‘ _Whatever though. I can think of at least one more person who should have a fun reaction to this situation._ ’

 _Who_? Out of decency most people would dislike this situation but Luigi couldn’t think of anyone else who’d have a ‘fun reaction’.

King Boo didn’t reply as he started the car at last. Apparently, Luigi would just have to wait and see.

***

“Lord Bowser sir, King Boo’s here to see you,” the goomba said as they poked their head into the room. “He’s possessing an uh… ‘meatsuit’ as he calls it and he says he wants to talk to you. He’s waiting for you in the throne room.” Message delivered, they fled, as most goombas tended to do for fear of getting yelled at for delivering unwanted news, and thus no clarifying questions could be asked.

“King Boo’s the one who beat Mario up, right?” Bowser Jr. said before Bowser could even decide if he wanted to bother with trying to call the goomba back for more questions.

From the way Bowser had heard it, ‘beating up Mario’ wasn’t quite what King Boo had done. It was close enough though so… “Yeah, supposedly three times.” And Bowser was jealous about it but he wasn’t about to show that in front of his son.

Looking back down at the kitten still carefully cradled in his hands – Bowser had been teaching him the proper way to handle them – Junior gave her another little pet. “Maybe that’s what he wants to talk to you about. If you two teamed up, you’d be unstoppable, right? You could take over the whole Mushroom Kingdom and more.”

“Maybe, I don’t know.” And it that was it, would Bowser go with that idea? On one hand it would be a guaranteed victory against Mario but on the other it would mean working with King Boo.

“Let’s go see then. I want meet him.” With exaggerated care, Junior gently placed the kitten back on the cat bed with her siblings and mama before hopping up and rushing out of the room. He didn’t even bother to close the door behind him.

With a sigh, Bowser rose to his feet too. He’d have preferred to ignore King Boo until he left but it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Might as well go see what he wanted to hopefully get rid of him fairly quickly.

Moving far slower than Junior meant Junior reached the throne room well before Bowser did. Upon approaching it, Bowser could hear his chatter from halfway down the hall.

“… still in there? Or is he like gone now?”

King Boo’s reply was spoken much softer, rendering it indecipherable. Which was odd all by itself but his voice didn’t sound as high pitched as it should.

“Isn’t that going a bit far then? Like… it’s kind of super creepy to think about even if he is one of the bad guys.”

Bowser reached the throne room. Junior had perched himself on the arm of the throne so that he would thoroughly tower over the fellow that stood at the bottom of the throne’s dais who was decidedly _not_ King Boo because he was human.

“His suffering is the whole _point_ though,” the fellow said. He then turned his grin towards Bowser. “Hey Bowser, it’s been while, huh?”

"Who are you?" He was familiar but Bowser couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.

“You really don’t recognize me? I guess that’s to be expected though. It’s a-me King Boo.” He laughed, very boo-like but also very not. “And guess what _I’ve_ done.”

Bowser’s scowl deepened to hind his confusion because why and how was King Boo suddenly human and _why_ did Bowser recognize him? “What?”

“I’ve _thoroughly_ defeated the Mario bros, so much so, they had me captured in a cell but Mario let me go almost right away. Not that he could’ve kept me locked up for long _anyway_ but that’s beside the point. I’ve _utterly_ defeated them, something you’ve failed to do time and time again.”

With an angry growl, Bowser strode all the way over to grab King Boo by the neck to lift him to face height. “How?” He was clearly missing something here and he didn’t like it. He _also_ didn’t like King Boo’s new form or him coming here to gloat about defeating Bowser’s enemy.

“Even as stupid as you are, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that this body of mine is familiar.” He seemed totally unphased by Bowser’s manhandling. “That’s because it’s Luigi’s, Mario’s brother, I possessed him and am now using him as a meatsuit.”

Bowser’s initial flash of rage at being called ‘stupid’ was immediately replaced by revulsion. Possession and his body being controlled by another being was something he had personal experience with and honestly it was probably the worst thing that had ever happened him, he still had nightmares about it sometimes. So _this_ disgusted him on a personal level.

“Stop it,” he said, squeezing King Boo’s neck a little harder.

“Stop what?”

“Possessing him!”

Another boo-like laugh that sounded creepily strange coming from a voice that wasn’t a boo’s. “You disapprove, really? And here I was thinking you’d just be jealous over how thoroughly I beat the Mario bros when you _never_ could.”

“It’s disgusting so _stop it_.” Bowser breathed a puff of smoke in his face.

“Nope! And there’s nothing you can do to make me stop. Unless you want to kill Luigi, I guess. It would be a disappointedly quick end to my game but go ahead if…”

Bowser growled and headbutted him as hard enough to make his own head hurt a little. King Boo made another small laugh that faded out as he went limp, his eyes sliding shut.

“Uh… Papa, did you just knock him out?”

Bowser turned to face Junior, still standing on the throne’s armrest. “This is disgusting.” He gestured with the limp body. Junior hadn’t been there for the incident with Cackletta so he probably didn’t get why Bowser was so enraged by this. He didn’t have time to explain right now though because he had to deal with it.

“KAMEK!” He stamped his foot hard enough to shake the whole room a little.

It was maybe a grand total of five seconds before little old Kamek was rushing into the room. “Yes, Lord Bowser?” he said, wheezing a little from the run over.

“Take care of this,” he said, pushing the now not so green fellow towards Kamek.

“Um… may I ask what this is? And what exactly you’d like me to do with it.”

Bowser groaned but thankfully, Junior, hopped down from his perch to explain the situation better and faster than Bowser probably ever could. He was a smart kid.

“Okay so uh… you want me to get King Boo out of him?” Kamek asked when the explanation was finished.

“Yes!” Bowser thrust the body towards him again.

“Sir, I don’t intend to be contrarian but this is King Boo we’re talking about here, I’m not sure if I can…”

“Just do it!” Bowser stomped his foot again. This was his castle; things were done his way here. If he wanted King Boo forced out of Greenie’s body, then Kamek was going to find a way to do it whether he liked it or not.

“Yes sir.” Kamek saluted before gesturing a couple shyguys over to take the body from Bowser to carry away presumably to his lab.

“Does this mean we’re going to be at war with King Boo’s kingdom now?” Junior asked after all the minions had filed away and it was just the two of them again.

“I don’t know and I don’t care.” It would probably be awkward if that did happen because some of his minions were boos, asking them to fight their own kind was bound to cause issues. Also, how did one wage war against ghosts? Yeah sure, sometimes boos could be defeated by physical force, but normal ghost certainly couldn’t be. But those were only potential future problems and thus he wasn’t going to worry about how to deal with them until they came to pass. For now, he was angry and wanted to punch something until it broke into a million pieces.


	2. Cage

Luigi woke to another massive headache – that was apparently just his life now – and the sound of children talking. He really, _really_ didn’t want to wake up but he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter and the talking was too loud anyway.

“…really King Boo, huh?”

“Yep, he told me so himself when I talked to him.”

“And he’s possessing the green guy? … Or uh… I guess he’s not really green anymore.”

‘ _No one ever remembers your name, huh? I should’ve pretended to forget too, that would’ve been fun,_ ’ King Boo said. He didn’t move yet though as what had to be Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings continued.

“Yep, that’s what he said. Papa was really mad about it too.”

“Well, it is kind of awful. Like… that’s going too far, I think, right.”

“Way too far for _sure_. Which is why Dad’s making Kamek fix it even if it means saving green Mario.”

“Well, he doesn’t seem to be doing a good job of it so far since King Boo’s still in him.”

‘ _I’m getting bored of this,_ ’ King Boo said with a sigh before finally opening Luigi’s eyes.

He was lying on his side in a what seemed to be a large metal cage. Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings were indeed the ones speaking. They were pressed up against the cage bars, peeking in as if Luigi was an exotic animal at a sideshow to be gawked at.

King Boo’s attempt to move Luigi’s arm was met with resistance and the clink of metal. Looking down at it… his wrists were in shackles and chained together. Both the chain the manacles were a soft gradient of colours, signifying they were made of magic. A quick check confirmed that his ankles were in near identical confines.

“You’re awake,” one of the Koopa kids said.

“Yep,” King Boo replied as he used his chained hands to push Luigi’s body up into a sitting position. He thankfully didn’t stand up yet but just sitting up made Luigi’s head swim; getting knocked unconscious two times within a couple days of each other was worse than he would’ve thought it’d be. “I presume you brats don’t have the key for these, huh?”

“No,” Bowser Jr., the only one of them Luigi remembered the name of, answered with a growl. “And even if we did, we wouldn’t give it to you.”

“Yeah,” the smallest one with multi-coloured hair agreed. “Our dad, the Koopa King himself, doesn’t like you possessing the green man so you have to stop now. You aren’t allowed to leave until you’ve stopped it.”

“Nah, I’m having too much fun making ‘the green man’ suffer. His misery is quite delightful, all you forgetting about him all the time have really been missing out.”

That earned some looks of anger and discomfort. Great, Luigi’s situation was so pitiful and awful even Bowser’s children were made uncomfortable by witnessing it. Before any of them could respond though, the sound of a door opening came from behind them followed by…

“What the heck do you think you kids are doing in here?” … That voice was familiar but Luigi couldn’t quite place it right now.

Bowser Jr. and company snapped around though. “But this is your lab so…” Bowser Jr. began before being interrupted.

“I don’t care, he’s still a prisoner and none of you are allowed near the prisoners so get out before I tell your father.” That sent them off, muttering with discontent under their breath. As soon as they were away from the cage Luigi could finally see that the speaker was Kamek, unsurprising in hindsight.

It also gave Luigi a better view of the room. There were bookshelves and a pair of tables creating an angle that were covered in various objects that Luigi lacked the curiosity to even determine what were even if he had control of where he looked. The cage he was in was to the side of the room, probably pressed against a wall.

Once the final Koopa kid was out of the room, Kamek closed the door and approached the cage. “Good, you’re _finally_ awake, now do me a favor King Boo and just fuck off.”

King Boo of course didn’t oblige him, instead he chuckled. “Wow, everyone sure seems to want me out of this meatsuit.”

“Personally, I find what you’re doing to be distasteful but I don’t really care enough to do anything about it. However, Lord Bowser does and thus I have been tasked with getting rid of you so make it easier on both of us and just leave already.” He sounded tired as if he honestly didn’t care that much which probably didn’t bode well for Luigi. But then again, because he didn’t care, King Boo threatening or doing anything to hurt Luigi wouldn’t sway him much so… maybe that was a good thing?

‘ _Hmmm… should I let him kill you to be rid of me? Because that’s the_ only _way he can accomplish that task. Or should I escape and find more fun things to do with you?_ ’

 _Escape!_ Even with how miserable Luigi was he wasn’t ready to die yet and as long as he was alive there was a chance Mario and E. Gadd would pull through for him and save him. _Please escape! It’ll be more fun, right?_ To save himself he would totally try to appeal to King Boo’s sensibilities even if they were awful in every possible way. It was better than dying though… right?

‘ _You’re right, I can’t let the fun end so soon. There are a number of things only the living can experience that I’d like to try before this game ends._ ’ With a chuckle he grabbed one of the cage bars in front of him and used it to pull Luigi’s body into a standing position.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, smirking down at Kamek, “but I have places to be and things to do.” He looked down the magic manacles on his wrists and… nothing happened. As the silence stretched an echo of sudden worry came from him that made Luigi a tad worried as well because why would he suddenly be worried?

“Ha!” Now it was Kamek’s turn for a smug grin. “You really think I wouldn’t be prepared to contain you? You were out for hours, more than long enough for me to craft some manacles that can contain even _your_ magic. You can’t do anything other than leave so hop on out already, your game’s done.”

King Boo growled at him. “How _dare_ you?”

“Yeah, uh-huh, you’re mad, I don’t care. You can’t do anything about it as long as you’re still possessing him though so either get over it or leave.”

There was another few seconds of silence from King Boo before he growled both internally as well as out loud. ‘ _You’re lucky; he even made it so I can’t use magic to kill you or you’d be dead right now._ ’

Oh dear! That was scary. It might’ve been unintentional on Kamek’s part but it didn’t matter, Luigi suddenly had a significant amount of gratitude directed at him. And maybe, _just_ maybe, he might actually make King Boo leave.

“NO!” King Boo gripped the cage bars tight enough to hurt Luigi’s hands as he glared hate-filled daggers at Kamek through them. “I’m not leaving.”

Unphased, Kamek shook his head slightly. “You’re going to be stubborn and petty now? Fine, go ahead, it certainly wouldn’t be the first temper tantrum I’ve had to deal with. Tell me when you’re ready to be reasonable.” He turned away to go over to the tables a short distance away and sit down. Then, he casually pulled a book off one of the piles of them in front of him, flipped to a page nearing the middle and started reading.

“Fuck you!” King Boo growled again.

Kamek didn’t even look up from his book.

‘ _I refuse to let him win. This is_ my _game and my victory; It ends on_ my _terms! I’m not letting some shitty wizard tell me what to do. Either I’m going to break out of out or you’re going to die trying._ ’

 _Please no._ Luigi begged even while knowing it’d be no use. He was doomed.

According to King Boo, breaking the chains holding the manacles together should be enough to dispel them completely, allowing him to use magic again. Naturally he started with the wrist chains. First, he tried pulling his hands apart as he somehow thought Luigi might be strong enough to physically break the chain. All it did was hurt though but thankfully he gave up on it soon. Only to switch to pulling the chain taunt as was possible and bashing it into the cage bars. The cage was clearly meant for a large animal and thus there was just enough room for Luigi’s fists to fit through the gaps in the bars, making it an almost viable strategy. But again, mostly it just _hurt_ and Luigi lacked the physical strength to make any real progress in that regard. Thus, King Boo eventually settled on standing in front the bars, hands partway through the gaps allowing him to firmly press the chain against the metal bar and rub it up and down, creating an _awful_ scraping noise.

The manacles weren’t super tight but they were far from loose; the way King Boo held and moved his hands made them dig and chafe painfully against Luigi’s wrists. It wasn’t long before they both started bleeding. Plus the one on the arm Polterpup had bitten was close enough to that wound to cause it to partially reopen again as well after a while.

Coupled with the pounding headache, dizziness, and not having had anything to eat in days and nothing to drink in an almost equal amount of time it was torturous enough to make Luigi want to beg for mercy. The only thing stopping him was the fact that King Boo would enjoy it which could only increase the chances of him continuing this wretched game of his.

It went on for… _ages_. The horrid wretched sound of the chain scraping against the metal bar seemed to blend together into one continuous sound. Luigi’s arms grew tired too, painfully so, mounting onto his misery. But, every so often, King Boo stopped to check the chain; even covered in Luigi’s blood, it was clear he was making slow but steady progress in wearing it away.

The whole time Kamek read, sitting in his chair, seemingly not bothered by the sound of the wretched scraping. If he glanced over at the cage at all, it wasn’t when King Boo wasn’t looking at him. And if he responded to any of King Boo’s occasional insults and/or threats it was merely with a distracted hum of acknowledgement and nothing more.

As far as Luigi could tell, it might’ve been a few hours or a full day before something new finally happened.

The door opened with an unnecessary amount of force and… in came Bowser. “Did you fix it yet?” He sounded impatient.

King Boo didn’t even pause in his grinding. Kamek however snapped right around and stood up.

“Not yet my liege,” he said. “I have defeated him though so it is only a matter of time until he gives up and leaves.”

Bowser let out an angry huff. “I said I wanted it fixed _yesterday_.” He strode over to glare down at Luigi through the cage bars.

King Boo grinned back up at him, still grinding away. “You’re not going to have your way,” he said, all his rage at having been temporarily bested drained away for now. ‘ _I’ve been a ghost for a long time, I can outlast_ any _living being in a game of patience. The only question is are you are going to live long for me do to so?_ ’

Luigi could only whimper at that. He was already at his limit, beyond it actually. Dying now would probably be a mercy if this were to continue much longer.

“My lord, I assure you, I’ve done all I can,” Kamek said as he walked over to stand beside Bowser. “My magic isn’t strong enough to force him out but this should work… eventually. He’s grinding away the chain but his ankles are chained too and I already have a spare one made so it should be fine.”

“If you even try to put it on me, I’ll bite your hands off,” King Boo said in an almost casual tone.

“He’ll tire of this eventually sir and then the problem will be solved. Though, now that I think about it, that might not happen until the green Mario brother dies which would be less than ideal but I’m not sure there’s much that can be done about that.”

Bowser crossed his arms as he glared down at King Boo. He seemed to be thinking hard about something but Luigi didn’t exactly have the mental energy to try to guess what it might be or even whether or not it might be good or bad. Probably bad because everything was bad lately.

“Actually,” Kamek continued, “killing him outright might be the best solution. If he’s likely to die anyway, we should maybe just put him out of his misery.”

Yep, this was where and how Luigi was going to die. All he could really hope for was that it’d be quick and painless.

Bowser growled softly, breathing out a puff of smoke before finally speaking. “No, I can handle King Boo without that, unlock the cage.”

“But sir…”

“I said unlock it.”

“On it, your royal spikiness.” Kamek hurriedly reached into his robe to pull out a key and unlock the cage.

King Boo frowned as the bar he was grinding the chain into pulled away. Before he could say anything though, verbally or internally to Luigi, Bowser reached in pick him up by the neck again.

“I swear I got to do everything myself around here,” he said with a low growl under his breath as he lifted and pulled Luigi out. He then slammed Luigi’s back into a wall; it hurt but pain seemed to be just a state of being right now anyway so Luigi had trouble caring as much as he should’ve. “Stop it, right now.” He growled low in Luigi’s face.

“Why do you care so much?” King Boo asked with a grin.

“None of your business!” Bowser growled again. … Luigi knew the answer to that question though, didn’t he? Bowser had been possessed too once, for different reasons but still it had to have been pretty awful. Having no control whatsoever of one’s body was terrible all by itself. Possibly enough so that even someone like Bowser would take offense to seeing that happen to someone else after personally experiencing it.

‘ _Oh? Interesting! How had I not heard of this?_ ’ Oh no! King Boo knowing probably wasn’t good. “Reading Luigi’s mind just got me an interesting bit of information, apparently you’ve been possessed before too. What were the circumstances surrounding…”

With another growl Bowser slammed him into the wall again. “Shut up! That’s none of your business!” He was squeezing Luigi’s throat a bit too tight now, making it hard to breathe. Had he changed his mind about not mercy killing Luigi? “Now _leave_!” Sparks danced in Luigi’s vision as Bowser slammed him into a third time. King Boo fought the urge to pass out though which really, _really_ sucked.

“Uh sir…” Kamek’s voice sounded far away now. “You’re not doing anything to hurt King Boo, you’re just hurting Green ‘Stache which I’m sure you can tell from the state of his wrists, doesn’t bother King Boo much if at all.”

Thankfully, or maybe not because unconsciousness would’ve been nice, Bowser’s grip loosened, allowing Luigi to breath properly again. He would’ve gasped for air but, mostly unbothered by the body’s needs, King Boo didn’t. Instead he grinned. “There’s nothing you can do to hurt me either. I’d tell you not to bother trying but you’re a bit too dumb to listen.”

That earned another angry growl but thankfully no more squeezing or being slammed into the wall, just pressed into it. “Nothing, huh? We’ll see about that.” Bowser’s eyes roved up and down Luigi’s body before coming to a rest on something just above his head… King Boo’s crown. “How ‘bout this?” He reached up his other hand to grasp it. From the way his arm bulged it was clear he was squeezing it.

“You really think you can break it?” King Boo scoffed.

Bowser’s only response was an angry puff of smoke and a grunt as he started squeezing harder, pressing Luigi’s body more firmly into the wall.

‘ _He’s lucky I’m still wearing Kamek’s stupid fucking magic blocking shit or he’d be paying for even daring to try…_ ’

There was a loud sound like a stone breaking or… a magic gemstone starting to crack under pressure. Luigi could sense an echo of King Boo’s sudden fear and anger.

“How _dare_ you!” He growled and even made an almost hissing noise as he reached Luigi’s hands up to paw at Bowser’s arm crushing his crown. But restrained both physically and magically, there was nothing he could do. “Stop it right now!”

Bowser let out a satisfied huff as the muscles in his arm bulged even more. He was really going to do it! Luigi almost didn’t dare actually hope for it but…

Another crack, this one even louder than the first. Then… a strange pulling sensation followed by blackness.

He came too once more after what had to be an unfortunately short time, judging by the amount of pain he was still in. Lying on the floor again, _everything_ hurt, especially his arms and head but… King Boo was gone. He shifted to test it and… yes, King Boo was _gone_.

Tearing up with relief, he forced open his eyes. He couldn’t make much sense of the scene before him but King Boo was there. He’d seemingly been back into a corner by a barrage of fire balls and magic missiles. His crown riddled with cracks, several of them quite large, crackled wildly with magic, seemingly beyond his control as it didn’t seem to be doing anything other than cast a flickering purple light over everything.

“This isn’t over!” he shouted, seemingly looking right at Luigi before phasing through the wall behind him.

Bowser ran over to punch that wall hard enough to shake the whole room and make a small dent. Despite that, Luigi could’ve hugged him in that moment, he was so grateful. He honestly didn’t care that he was indebted to him now. He was just relieved to be free of King Boo at last.

Kamek turned to face him again first. Pulling something out of a pocket he walked over and bent down to… unlock the chains on Luigi’s ankles and then his wrists. He grimaced and even winced a little as he pulled the latter way but didn’t say anything.

Going against better judgement, Luigi moved his arms up, dragging them across the floor – they felt like jelly after what King Boo had put him through – so his wrists were in his line of sight. He winced too, a low whine escaping him. They looked even worse than they felt which was already bad enough; even with all the blood, the marks where the manacles had been were still clearly visible. It made him feel sick but… at the same time, he was free of King Boo. That alone was enough to make him tremble in relief.

“As always your highness you have managed to find a brute force solution to the problem that I never would’ve thought of, you never cease to amaze,” Kamek said as he hovered over Luigi. “Now however, we have another problem on ours hands: what do we do with Mario’s brother?”

“Heh, I should’ve just done that to begin with instead trusting you to do anything,” Bowser said as he stomped over to loom over Luigi as well. He opened his mouth to say more but before he could…

“Thank you.” Luigi tried to pushed himself more upright but it hurt too much move and his arms and wrists hurt too much. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he muttered looking up at Bowser while lying on the floor instead. He’d intended to say more than just ‘thank you’ but that was all he could think to say right now.

He looked almost stunned for a moment before a smug grin spread across his face. “Yes, be grateful little green man, I saved you. And that,” he turned his head to address Kamek, “means he’s mine now.”

“Uh sir, while that logic works for stray cats and orphaned children, I’m not sure if it applies here.”

“Why wouldn’t it? It’s the same thing, I saved him so I’m responsible for his life now.”

“Um… you know what sure, you saved him so he’s yours now. That doesn’t answer the question of what do we do with him now though. Do we make him our prisoner and use him against Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom? Do we let him stay in the castle as a guest and tend to his wounds? Or do we send him back to Mario either on his own, which I doubt he’d make it all that way in this state, or with someone to transport him?”

Luigi didn’t dare cut in to try to suggest anything or plead for mercy, lest it weigh the odds against him. It’d be just his luck to be become Bowser’s prisoner after all _this_ though. There was no way he could take that, hadn’t he already suffered more than enough?

Bowser let out another huff. “He’s mine now so we keep him. Come one Green ‘Stache, let’s go.” He bent down to pick Luigi up and though he wasn’t particularly gentle, he wasn’t rough either as he lifted him up and draped him of his shoulder, keeping one hand on his back to hold him there.

Given that that answer didn’t give much of an indication as to whether Luigi was a guest or prisoner maybe he shouldn’t be correcting Bowser but… “My name’s ‘Luigi’.” He was too exhausted to care about the potential consequences, he just wanted to be called by name.

Already marching out of the room, Bowser grunted. “All right Luigi, let’ go then.” That had to be a good sign, right? Maybe.

Out in what appeared to be a hall, Kamek strode right behind Bowser. Dangling limp over Bowser’s shoulder, Luigi was the perfect place to converse with him. “So… does this mean I’m a prisoner or… what?”

“You’re a guest,” Kamek said. “Meaning you’ll be provided with medical care and a guest room.”

“Oh… good, thanks.” Luigi again trembled and teared up with relief. The nightmare was indeed over. Under different circumstances, the prospect of being a guest in Bowser’s castle would've sent him running but right now, he didn’t care even a little. He might have cause to later but he didn’t have the energy to worry about later. “Thank you.”

“In case you were wondering, this mindset is why Lord Bowser has so many adopted children. He saves them from this or that thing and then basically does this with them. I don’t know what that means for you but there you go.”

“Wait, they’re adopted?” Luigi had never given much thought to where they’d come from or why.

“All but Junior,” Bowser answered, sounding proud of it as he patted his hand on Luigi’s back.

“Hmm… that’s kind of sweet actually.” Not what Luigi would’ve expected from Bowser.

Bowser grunted acknowledgment but otherwise didn’t reply. Which was the end of the conversation as safe as he could be for now and soothed by the steady rhythm of Bowser’s walking, Luigi soon started drifting off. He’d have to contact Mario and E. Gadd to let them know King Boo was dealt with… for now anyway; he’d be back eventually and would need to be dealt with again, hopefully in a more permanent way. But those were things to worry about later, for now he was just relieved to be free and in desperate need of some rest even if he was literally in Bowser’s clutches. But maybe being in Bowser’s clutches wasn’t so bad, it certainly seemed rather nice right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The number one reason I didn't allow this to transform into a slow burn Bowuigi fic is because I need to start working on Halloween fics and following that, at the start of November I gotta start working on X-mas fics. So, right now is not a good time for me to be taking on a big slow burn project like that. Once all the holiday stuff is done however, if I still have the inspiration for it I might start up a third installment that's a hurt/comfort Bowuigi slow burn fic, probably with King Boo trying to come back for revenge. That is a big maybe though so we'll see. If y'all'd like to see it though, let me know me in the comments, knowing other people are interested would increase the chances of me being able to do it. :)


End file.
